Acorda Therapeutics Announces Successful Thorough QT Study of Fampridine-SR
Monday January 28, 6:00 am ET
Fampridine-SR Not Associated with QT Changes
Company to Host Conference Call at 8:30 am Eastern Time Today
HAWTHORNE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOR - News) today announced results from a thorough QT study of Fampridine-SR. This study evaluated the potential to cause an increase in the electrocardiographic QT interval. Fampridine-SR, at both therapeutic and supratherapeutic doses, was found to be no different than placebo. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires thorough QT studies for all new drugs seeking regulatory approval, as increases in the QT interval (corrected for changes in heart rate, or QTc) may signify an increased risk of developing malignant cardiac arrhythmias.
This double-blind trial compared the electrocardiographic effects of Fampridine-SR, given at a therapeutic (10 mg twice daily) and supratherapeutic dose (30 mg twice daily), to placebo and moxifloxacin in 208 healthy subjects. Moxifloxacin is a positive control known to increase the QT interval.
The placebo-corrected QTc mean change from baseline (using the individual correction method for heart rate, or QTci) for the therapeutic and supratherapeutic doses of Fampridine-SR were 0 and 1 milliseconds, respectively. Moxifloxacin demonstrated QT prolongation consistent with previous clinical experience. In addition to no changes in the mean QTci interval, none of the subjects in the Fampridine-SR cohort showed increases in the QTci of greater than 30 milliseconds, nor did any of the Fampridine-SR subjects display a QTci interval that exceeded 480 milliseconds at any time.
Ron Cohen, Acorda’s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are delighted with the results of this QT study, and are looking forward to completing our second Phase 3 trial of Fampridine-SR in multiple sclerosis patients in the second quarter of this year.”
The company will host a conference call Monday, January 28, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. To participate, please dial 866-800-8652 (domestic) or 617-614-2705 (international) and reference the access code 87165145. A replay of the call will be available from 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time on January 28, 2008 until February 28, 2008. To access the replay, please dial 888-286-8010 (domestic) or 617-801-6888 (international) and reference the access code 18388394. The archived teleconference will be available for 30 days in the Investor Relations section of the Acorda website at acorda.com. |
